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Success doesn’t come with an easy-to-follow formula, but we can all agree that having someone to show you the ropes is always a big help. In fact, according to a recent LinkedIn study, 82% of women believe that having a mentor is an asset. Yet, 19% of women have never had a mentor, and about half of them say it’s because they’ve never met someone that felt like a good fit. Enter Dave Wilkin's innovative networking and mentorship platform, Ten Thousand Coffees.

Wilkin turned the popular networking tactic of asking professionals you admire to chat over coffee into a platform that eases the nerve-wracking process of connecting with appropriate mentors. Individuals can sign up via their LinkedIn account or create a profile on the site, join a community of thousands of members, and be matched to mentors in their field of interest. The platform has also partnered with companies — including TD Bank, Lean In, PepsiCo, United Way and several universities across North America — allowing them to facilitate their own internal mentorship programs. Since its launch in January 2014, Ten Thousand Coffees has helped students, recent graduates and young professionals around the world connect with experts and CEOs from more than 40 industries over cups of coffee or Skype calls. This year alone, they’ve made more than 250,000 meetings possible.

I spoke with founder Dave Wilkin to find out more about how the platform came to be, how Ten Thousand Coffees flips mentorship upside down and why millennial mentorship isn’t just essential for mentees, but for companies, too.

Pauleanna Reid: Let’s talk about the powerful number, Ten Thousand. Can you tell me about how many interactions and hours it takes to build a strong and mutually beneficial relationship with another person?

Reid:You have worked with business leaders from many industries and cited that they often ask you how to better connect with millennials. Do you think leaders need to make a more deliberate effort?

Wilkin: We see two major challenges from a leadership perspective. The first and arguably the most important is the permission asset. From the highest levels of an organization small and large, there needs to be a permission asset set by leaders that it’s encouraged for people managers of all levels to connect and engage with talent outside of their day-to-day. Believe it or not, that permission is actually helpful and important for the company to be innovative. Most people don’t think it’s allowed. So, the first step is helping the top leaders create that permission asset and encouragement. The second aspect for leaders is actually providing them with the tools so they can proactively be connected with the next generation; knowing that the top three reasons they go to work are to connect with leaders, learn from leaders and have an impact with them. So if leaders are not connecting with next-generation talent, not only are these leaders going to be unproductive and ineffective managers, but millennials will have no reason to stick around in that organization.

Reid:What does it mean to flip mentorship upside down?

Wilkin: For the first time ever, everybody can learn and everybody can teach inside an organization in various ways, so there is no such thing as a one-way mentorship relationship anymore. It’s always two ways and there’s always an opportunity and expectation that the next generation will help leaders in addition to educating and mentoring them. And leaders are helping millennials navigate their careers.

Reid:What advice do you have for millennials who lack confidence when meeting new people?

Wilkin:There’s a lot of value in having a conversation with someone who is different from you. Try to remember the difference between the leader and yourself is actually the most important part of that conversation. This is and always has been the way people have uncovered the best ideas and the way people become inspired in their careers. The conversation you may feel you aren’t qualified for is actually a conversation that will help that leader make better decisions, feel better connected – the more different you are from them, the better the conversation is despite how nervous you may be.

Dave Wilkin with the hosts of Cheddar TV

Photo by TenThousandCoffees.com

Reid:Speaking of two-way mentorship, as mentees, what is our role in the relationship and how can we add value to our mentors?

Wilkin: Be a good learner. Go into these conversations, write down questions and send follow-up notes to show that you have actually taken something from the conversation – that’s incredibly valuable and an important aspect of being a mentee. That is, by far, the most effective way to acknowledge the leaders' time and help drive that relationship into something like a mentoring relationship.

Reid:After we have that initial coffee date, at what point does the mentorship become official and what steps do you suggest to evolve the relationship?

Wilkin: There are actually a lot of parallels to dating when it comes to mentorship in that on your first date generally you don’t ask somebody to marry you. And the same thing exists with mentorship. Generally, on your first coffee chatter conversation, you don’t ask somebody to be your mentor. But as you have conversations and mutually benefit each other, over time you will realize that that person mentored you through various situations. Mentoring is a better verb or activity than it is a role or a title and the more that we look at it as an experience, the more value will come out of these conversations. A lot of that is because the expectation or the pressure of the relationship is removed.

I am the founder of New Girl on the Block, a mentorship platform for millennial women who are dealing with major life and career transitions. I use creative education to

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I am the founder of New Girl on the Block, a mentorship platform for millennial women who are dealing with major life and career transitions. I use creative education to turn distant dreams into noteworthy achievements. Additionally, my passions include advocacy for youth and mental health in which I contribute my free time spreading awareness, providing expertise on media platforms and delivering keynote talks in schools nationwide. When I'm not reporting or working with young adults, I am ghostwriting projects for celebrities, athletes, politicians and high-performing executives. I own an agency which helps the leaders and doers who are shaping the future turn their personal stories into brand assets.